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Recovering content from iPod touch

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Q: I recently had my computer restored and after reinstalling iTunes it hit me that all of my music is gone. Further, my computer doesn’t even show that my iPod touch is connected to it. I’ve dealt with this before and know how to transfer music from my iPod to my iTunes library, but it seems this time I can’t find my iPod at all on my computer, except for when I bring up iTunes. I’ve even tried searching my entire computer for it and I still couldn’t find it. So I was wondering if there was anyway I can get my iPod to show up on my computer or if there’s an easier way (where I won’t have to download some software) to get my music back on my iTunes.

- Danielle

A: It sounds like the last time you went through this you were using a Click Wheel iPod model such as an iPod classic or iPod nano. iTunes uses Disk Mode to access these devices and you can therefore access them in the same way to recover music manually. Unfortunately, Apple’s iOS devices such as the iPod touch use a completely different synchronization protocol that does not rely on Disk Mode and therefore do not appear to your computer as external hard drives.

This means that the old manual recovery options will not work anymore and you will definitely need to find some third-party software to help you out. The good news is that there are some inexpensive solutions available for this either in the form of apps that are available on a trial basis or free to inexpensive apps. Our guide to Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer lists several possibilities that are worth a look.